Hayes - A history of a Kentish Village

Today Hayes is part of the London Borough of Bromley but for many centuries it was a small village in Kent. Its inhabitants still consider themselves part of a village community and there is a thriving Hayes Village Association with a membership of over 2,500 households.

In 1935 The history of Hayes written by Canon Henry Percy Thompson was published. It was written mainly from the church records available at the time and from information from local historians, especially the work of B F Davis. It was after Canon Thompson’s death that Hayes started to change substantially. With local government reorganisation in the 1930s it lost its Parish Council and instead became part of Bromley Borough.

In 2012 a new history of Hayes was published for which the research was done by Jean Wilson and Trevor Woodman. All the copies of Hayes, a history of a Kentish Village have been sold but there are copies in Bromley Local Studies Library, Bromley Central Library, West Wickham and Hayes public libraries. Please click on the volume pictures below for additional information.